A Pilgrim’s Pride processing plant in El Dorado, Ark. The company has 48,000 employees and operates 35 chicken-processing plants and 11 prepared-foods facilities.

AP / Larry Singer

MILWAUKEE — Pilgrim’s Pride Corp. filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection yesterday, hurt like other meat producers by volatile feed prices and slumping demand but also hobbled by an unmanageable debt load.

The Pittsburg, Texas-based company, the nation’s largest chicken producer, sought protection in a filing with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District of Texas, saying that as of Sept. 27 it had $3.75 billion in assets and $2.72 billion in debts.

Pilgrim’s Pride, which controls about 23 percent of the U.S. chicken market, will continue operating during the reorganization and will not liquidate its assets, spokesman Ray Atkinson said.

“We really believe this will help us come out a lot stronger and we expect it to be business as usual,” Atkinson said.

The chicken producer has been saddled by the debt from its $1.3-billion acquisition of rival Gold Kist Inc. last year — what analysts cite as the primary cause of its large debt load.

Pilgrim’s Pride’s financial problems have been evident for months, since it said in late September it would post a “significant loss” in the fourth quarter, citing woes from hedging on feed inputs such as corn. It has had to extend its temporary credit line three times since September — most recently last week. Its third extension was set to expire yesterday afternoon.

Last month, in accordance with rules set by its lenders, the company hired a chief restructuring officer, and has maintained since its credit issues surfaced that it wanted to avoid filing for bankruptcy.

After the market closed Friday, the company said in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission that it would delay filing this year’s annual financial report, which had been due Nov. 26. It said it expects to post a loss of $802 million, or $10.83 per share, on sales of $2.17 billion for the fourth quarter, which ended Sept. 27. Those results include a non-cash charge of $501.4 million, or $6.77 a share due to the impairment of goodwill related to its acquisition of Gold Kist, and an income-tax valuation allowance of $35 million, or 47 cents a share, against net operating losses.

Many of the nation’s meat producers are seeing their profits shrink in the wake of high commodity prices for items such as corn and oil. Those prices are moderating after reaching record highs this summer, but are still high for producers. Further hurting the industry is a drop in demand, since cash-strapped consumers are cutting back on their restaurant spending, yielding an oversupply of meat on the market. Both those factors keep prices down and make it more difficult for meat companies to recoup their costs.

Beyond that, Pilgrim’s Pride suffered from bad timing, given the mix of the volatile feed prices, the weak pricing situation and its acquisition of Gold Kist, said John Anderson, an agricultural economist at Mississippi State University. At a time when the company took on a large debt for Gold Kist, it also saw a huge run-up in feed and fuel prices.

“They were trying to transition through this very large acquisition at a time when the fundamentals in the market really, really got tough,” Anderson said.

Producers such as Pilgrim’s Pride have pledged to trim or have started cutting production, to remove supply and push prices back up. Anderson said those cuts are coming through.

Pilgrim’s Pride’s bankruptcy will hurt the industry in the short term because the company may liquidate its inventory, which could limit pricing power, Barclays Capital analyst Christopher Bledsoe wrote in a research note yesterday. But he said it could help it in the future if Pilgrim’s Pride eliminates plant capacity.

But the bankruptcy serves as a warning to others in the industry when it comes to the credit markets, he said. Lenders have become increasingly wary of providing credit as economies slump worldwide. Although Pilgrim’s Pride got extensions, those ran out.

Pilgrim’s Pride is the U.S. industry leader and a large chicken producer in Mexico.

The company said the bankruptcy protection it is seeking does not include operations in Mexico or certain ones in the United States, although it did not specify which ones. The protection does include six subsidiaries, including PPC Marketing Ltd., PPPC Transportation Co., To-Ricos Distribution Ltd. and PFS Distribution Co.

Pilgrim’s Pride also said in a statement that it is seeking approval to enter into a $450-million debtor-in-possession financing agreement arranged by Bank of Montreal. The company said if the financing is approved by the court, the money will help it run its daily operations, including paying wages and other obligations.

“We expect to emerge from this restructuring a stronger, more competitive company that is well-positioned for growth and enhanced profitability,” Clint Rivers, Pilgrim’s Pride’s president and chief executive, said in a statement.

Shares of Pilgrim’s Pride fell 53 cents, or 46 percent, to 62 cents before trading was halted yesterday. The New York Stock Exchange said later yesterday that it was suspending trading of the company’s stock.